Two Angry Men (Cyrus Mistry)

 Introduction:

“Two Angry Men” like other short stories of Cyrus Mistry portrays the deranged conditions of the voiceless people. In this fiction, the author has brought out the division existing between the rich and poor. In the modern world, money plays a crucial role and man’s life greatly depends on it. There is no place for humanity in any form or sense. Hence the privileged people exploit and suppress the people who are living at the margin. In this story, Ashutosh though a friend to Prashant, yet suppresses him as he is the boss of the Advertisement Company at where Prashant is an employee. Therefore, the derangement of Prashant is the focal-point in this fiction.

Ashutosh - The Hypocrite:

Ashutosh and Prashant are friends from their schooldays. Though they are friends, they are jealous at each other because Ashutosh always exhibits his upper-class mentality.  Being an upper-class man, Ashutosh always treats Prashant as his inferior. But they pretend that they are good to each other. Hence most part of the story is written in form speaking out the mind-voices these men. In a sense, it looks like ‘Aside’ in Shakespearean plays. From the mind-voices of Ashutosh and Prashant, readers can understand the real-nature of them. When the story opens, it is found that Prashant is working on an advertisement about a new product called “Miracle Biscuit”. Prashant often shows the ‘ad’ to his boss, Ashutosh for the approval. After making corrections, Ashutosh finally approves it and asks Prashant to give it to Sumodh who is working in the computer section of the firm.

Ashutosh, in fact, is the “Creative Head of PFB - Perkins, Futehally and Barker”, Mumbai branch. The company ranks number two in India in the field of advertisement after Futehally made partnership with Perkins and Barker which hold offices in Madison Ave. The Managing Director of the company is old and bed-ridden and his son. J.A. Abbas, gives the entire responsibilities of the company in the hands of Ashutosh. Hence Ashutosh is the de-facto owner of the company. In fact, the company has reached the second position due to the meticulous service rendered by Ashutosh. He brilliantly knows to deal matters in the company as well as in personal life without any commotion. He is a hypocrite. He is a bulky fellow and a bachelor even at his forties.

Ashutosh’s father was a wealthy stock-broker and so he sent Ashutosh to Paris to study Fine Arts. For two years he studied paintings under the famous “Franco-Spanish” artist, “Bissot”. On his return his father arranged for an art exhibition but critics found that only a few paintings contain creativity. Unfortunately, Ashutosh’s father died, leaving Ashutosh to clear all the debts which were not known to the family members until his death. So Ashutosh took the responsibility of the family. He sent his younger brother, Avinash to the university for his higher education. Later, when the family property was sold, Ashutosh bought a flat in the heart of the city from the money but repaid it to his mother before her death. But Avinash who is well-settled with his wife and children in Bengaluru has some kind of resentment on Ashutosh and demands an equal share in the flat in which Ashutosh is now living. Their mother stayed with her sister, Madhumita until her death.

 

Ashutosh is too big and also losing his eye-sight slowly. So, he remains a bachelor even in his forties. According to Prashant, Ashutosh is a hypocrite and sadist and so he finds happiness from the pains of others. Even during the schooldays, he pointed out his classmates and friends to the Art Master when he was asked to monitor the class in the absence of the master. As a grown-up person, now he waits for opportunities to hit out the staff members unnecessarily, but he pretends to convey the impression of being thoughtful and well-organised person.  In fact, this psychotic condition has developed in him for the reasons such as he has faced the hardship of life after giving up his passion for paintings, taking the responsibility of the family at a very young age, and not being married even in his forties. When he comes to know about Prashant’s attraction for the receptionist, Pinki, he gets jealous at him. So, he orders Prashant to move to the Bengaluru Branch as its head which was a promise given to Prashant at the time of his appointment, three years ago. The real intention of Ashutosh is that he wants to separate Prashant from Pinki and this gives Ashutosh a strange kind of mental satisfaction.

 

Prashant - An Opportunist:

Prashant is a middle-class man. Like other middle-class people, he grabs the opportunities for his livelihood even though it stakes the life of others. The predicament of the middle-class and lower-class people is brought out by Cyrus Mistry through Prashant in this short fiction. The derangement associated with the life of Prashant is the microcosm and many people in India live in such life-condition. These people often become the victims in the hands of the so-called privileged or upper-class people. Though Prashant and Ashutosh are friends, yet they do not like the progress that take places in the life of each other.  When they were in the last year of their schooling, Prashant got jealousy at Ashutosh when he informed him that his father had decided to sent him to France to study Fine Arts. Prashant though not a good painter, yet had an attraction for it. But he opted to study Journalism. After his education he worked as a reporter, then as a sub-editor and finally as a copywriter in a local newspaper called “Tabloid” , before joining PFB.

It is from Ashutosh’s mind-voice, the readers understand that Prashant has recently been married to Prema. She has been pregnant for seven months. However, Prashant develops a love-relationship with the receptionist, Pinki who is half the age of him. When he expresses his love and attraction for her, Pinki like a matured woman, warns him against his nasty idea. She also adds that she looks at him like her elder brother. She says that his attraction for her is only an “illusion” and it will vanish like a “daydream”. But Prashant does not get convinced. He never tries to correct his views on Pinki.

Ashutosh who comes to know about Prashant and Pinki’s relationship, wants to sabotage it. So, he promotes Prashant as a boss of the Bengaluru branch and sends him there to look after the initial establishment and to recruit employees for the firm. Initially, Prashant hesitates to go to Bengaluru, but Ashutosh advises him to utilize the opportunity of his wife’s absence from the house. She has gone to her mother’s house for delivering the child. He also asks Prashant to buy a flat in Bengaluru from the company’s money in order to shift his family there, after the commencement of work in the office. Prashant who knows the hypocritic nature of  Ashutosh, fears to go to Bengaluru leaving Pinki behind in Mumbai and that itself at the mercy of Ashutosh. But Prashant accepts the offer and so he goes to Bengaluru. Amidst the incessant work, he almost forgets Pinki. But he calls his wife once in two weeks and enquires about her health condition. After the establishment of the all the initial work, he returns to Mumbai because his wife calls and informs him about the birth of the child which falls before the due date.

On his return, Prashant meets Ashutosh in the office and explains him about the work that he has carried out in the Bengaluru branch. Then he enquires about Pinki and for which Ashutosh gives some evasive answers and also informs him that she has resigned the job soon after Prashant’s departure to Bengaluru. From the uninterested answers of Ashutosh, Prashant understands that Ashutosh has caused some nasty-things in the life of Pinki and if he asks about it, Ashutosh will fire him from the job. So, he resents at the hypocritic nature of Ashutosh without raising voice against him.

Pinki – A Victim:

Being a beautiful and young woman, Pinki is exploited by Prashant and Ashutosh. Though married, Prashant develops an attraction for Pinki thinking that she may not resist his advancement towards her. He wants to exploit her sexually using her poor family background. In fact, her father is a drunkard and a sexual-pervert. So Prashant thinks that it is easy for him to mesmerize her pointing out her orphan-like condition. He continues to develop sexual advancement towards, though she tells him that she considers him as her elder brother. Not only Prashant, but Ashutosh who is “vulturous” by nature wants to prey on Pinki, in order take, indirect revenge on Prashant who enjoys the bliss of married life as well as the extra-marital relationship, even though he is not rich like him.  Thus, these two men instead of considering the inner-mind of Pinki want to exploit her sexually. Hence Pinki gives up her job and goes away from both the men who are hypocrites and opportunists. This is the predicament of many educated and employed women in India which Mistry has brought out with strong vehemence in his fiction.

Conclusion:

Thus, Mistry’s “Two Angry Men” focuses on the hypocritic nature of modern men, who are behind money, power and lust. The two childhood friends who are now coworkers at an advertising firm indulge in never-ending display of false camaraderie, and intense and unspoken resentment on each other. True human relationship and humanistic concerns are billion-dollar questions in this modern society. This is explicit from the end of the novel through the action of Prashant. He accepted the fifty thousand rupees given by Ashutosh as a bonus for the work carried out at the Bengaluru office. But in fact, it is an indirect bribe to keep silence about the whereabouts of Pinki. Thus, the story highlights the derangement set in the lives of individuals as well as the society.